Excavation machines such as, for example, backhoes, tracked excavators, front shovels, trenchers, and other machines known in the art are often used to remove earthen material from around obstacles either to dig to the obstacles or to dig in spite of the obstacles so as not to disturb the obstacles. These obstacles may include, among other things, underground utilities including power lines, gas pipelines, and pressurized water conduits; oil and/or fuel storage tanks; large boulders; and other similar obstacles. When excavating in the vicinity of these obstacles, it may be difficult to position the excavation machine such that productive amounts of material may be removed before repositioning of the machine is required. In addition, some of the material near the obstacle may, because of linkage constraints of the machine, only be removed from particular attack points. If attempts are made to remove the material from positions other than these particular attack points, damage to the machine and/or obstacle may occur. These problems may be exacerbated when an inexperienced operator is in control of the machine and/or when view of the obstacle is obstructed (e.g., when the obstacle is buried below the work surface).
One way to improve material removal from near an unseen object may be to provide to an operator of the machine a visual representation of the object relative to the machine. An implementation of this strategy is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application No. 2004/0210370 (the '370 publication) by Gudat et al., published on Oct. 21, 2004. Specifically, the '370 publication discloses a method of providing a display in real time of an excavation site having underground obstacles. The method includes determining a location of an earthworking machine in site coordinates, determining a location of an earthworking implement relative to the earthworking machine, determining the location in site coordinates of at least one underground object at the excavation site, and responsively inputting the location of the at least one underground object to a terrain map of the excavation site. The method further includes displaying the terrain map including the location of the earthworking machine, the location of the earthworking implement, and the location of the at least on underground object in real time. The '370 publication also discloses that the earthworking machine may include a controller adapted to control the operation of the earthworking implement relative to the location of the underground obstacles, preferably for the purpose of preventing the earthworking implement from contacting the underground obstacles.
Although the method and controller of the '370 publication may improve material removal near underground obstacles by visually displaying the obstacles relative to the earthworking machine and by preventing collisions between the obstacles and machine, they may be limited. In particular, even with a visual display of the obstacles and collision prevention, it may still be difficult to properly position the machine and/or implement for efficient removal of the material. That is, depending on the location and configuration of the object(s), an operator, especially an inexperience operator, may have to reposition the machine many times to remove all of the necessary material. In some situations, the operator may even be required to exit the machine and remove the final amounts of material by hand. Continually repositioning the machine and/or removing the material by hand can be inconvenient and inefficient.
The excavation control system of the present disclosure solves one or more of the problems set forth above.